Session News # 13: Recap of Week 6 in the Legislature
May 22, 2015
This week, the Senate Retirement Committee approved a substitute bill for Senate Bill 18 (Sen. Adley). The substitute bill, Senate Bill 285, is also sponsored by Sen. Adley. It proposes to change the method for determining the unfunded accrued liability (UAL) portion of the employer contribution rate by calculating a particularized UAL for higher education employers and K-12 employers. (Under current law, the UAL is shared among all employers.) SB 285 includes a provision which attempts to offset additional costs to K-12 employers that would result from using the proposed method. The bill is now pending consideration by the Senate Finance Committee.Also, House Bill 800 (Rep. Fannin) won approval in both the House Appropriations Committee and the full House. HB 800 would appropriate approximately $6.2 million in FY 2013-14 surplus or nonrecurring funds to the UAL. It now heads to the Senate side for consideration.
Coming up: Week of May 25-29
The full Senate is expected to consider House Bill 10 (Rep. Pearson) for final passage on Monday, May 25. HB 10 would allow TRSL members to purchase service credit for out-of-state private school teaching service.
The following bills are pending final passage in the House, and are expected to be considered next week:
- House Bill 42 (Rep. Jones) would provide a 1.5% permanent benefit increase (also known as a COLA) to eligible retirees of the four state systems. Scheduled for consideration Tuesday, May 26.
- Senate Bill 16 (Sen. E. Guillory) would make technical corrections to Act 399 of 2014. Scheduled for consideration Thursday, May 28.
- Senate Bill 20 (Sen. Long), which adds to the categories of “retired teacher” and restructures the state’s return-to-work law. Scheduled for consideration Thursday, May 28.